Surprise: Kids make college choices early

November 23, 2008|By Tamar Lewin The New York Times

Given the economic downturn, admissions officers at Wesleyan University thought there might be a decline in early-decision applications this year. But when the deadline passed a week ago, they found the number had risen 40 percent.

"I was surprised, and I was pleased, and I don't have an explanation," said Greg Pyke, senior associate dean of admissions at Wesleyan, in Middletown, Conn. "It's hard to believe that one group of 17-year-olds has become more decisive than the group you saw the previous year. So maybe it's that in a time of economic uncertainty, people want something settled."

This was expected to be a year when the number of early-decision applications took a dive. With a recession, the thinking went, selective colleges and universities that use binding early-decision programs to lock in part of their incoming classes would find fewer students ready to commit and would lose many budget-conscious families to public universities. Indeed, state universities are seeing huge increases in applications.

But many selective private institutions are reporting large jumps in the number of early-decision applicants. Dartmouth, Middlebury and Bowdoin are all up about 10 percent over last year; Haverford, 4 percent; Northwestern, 15 percent; and Pomona, 20 percent.

"It might have something to do with last year, when some students stayed on the waiting list a little longer, and maybe told their friends, 'If you apply early, you can find out in December,' " said Art Rodriguez, Pomona's senior associate dean of admissions.

The numbers vary from college to college, of course - with two of the most selective liberal-arts colleges, Williams and Amherst, near last year's numbers.

The early-decision process has become controversial in recent years. Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia have eliminated it, saying it favored wealthy applicants who did not need to compare financial-aid offers.

Some need-blind colleges said that they had been working to publicize their generous financial aid packages and that it seemed to be paying off in early-decision applicants from less-affluent settings.